Bruins finding their footing on road trip after back-to-back wins

If Bruins’ fans are drunk off the glow of two legitimately good wins in Vancouver and Calgary, all they have to do to sober up is take a gander at the Eastern Conference standings.

Yes, the B’s started Wednesday just three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. But they are just one point ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have a whopping four games in hand, and three points ahead of the Ottawa Senators, who have two games in hand and are surging, thanks in large part to old friend Linus Ullmark.

So, sure, it’s fine for the Bruins to take the good from those two games and build off of it, but that won’t help them when they face Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday to finish up this five-game road trip.

That was at least part of the message that captain Brad Marchand delivered after Boston’s emotional 4-3 overtime win over the Flames when he was asked about building off the win.

“I don’t like looking at one game and think it’s going to have any impact on the next game because it doesn’t. I think you feel good after a win, but that can also be dangerous. I think it’s an opportunity for us every day to reset and welcome the opportunity ahead of us and be prepared for next game,” Marchand told reporters. “Whether you win or lose, it has no impact on how you play the next game unless you let it. I think the last few days have been a really good opportunity for us to bond as a group, which is extremely important at this time of year with some of the things we’ve been through as a team. It’s a similar opportunity to come together as a team. We have to reset after this one and be prepared for the next one. It’s going to be the toughest one of the trip and we want to make sure we have a good game. But I don’t think we’re really getting caught up on how we played one game and that it’ll dictate the play of another game and carry momentum. It’s all about how we prepare for each game and practice. We’ve done a better job of that lately.”

Fair enough.

But there were some interesting developments in the OT win over the Flames, from a personnel standpoint.

The first one was the play of Elias Lindholm. Playing against his old team, he didn’t just make those smart, subtle defensive plays that he’s been making pretty much all along. On Tuesday, he actually made some of the big plays that you expect from a player that makes $7.75 million a season, ones that have been too few in his inaugural Bruins season. He blocked a shot in the defensive zone, chased it down to the other side of the ice and scored the B’s first goal to start the comeback. He also sent Marchand off on a rush that led to Marc McLaughlin’s equalizer.

“To me, it was the skating that jumped out, a little more noticeable on the puck, supporting the puck through the neutral zone,” coach Joe Sacco told reporters at the B’s optional practice in Calgary on Wednesday. “On his goal, same thing, he’s working toward the puck, he’s not going away from it. He just looked like he was engaged. His skating was standing out to me.”

Sacco also had a good night for himself. He made the timeout call early in the second period after the Flames’ second goal that changed the flow of the game. His line changes in the second period also made a difference, particularly with one player who, like Lindholm, has not been delivering the goods on a nightly basis.

Charlie Coyle did not pick up a point in the win, but it looked like his game had received some electroshock therapy when Sacco flipped him up to the second line to play on the right wing with Marchand and Lindholm.

“Charlie had a good game (Tuesday) night,” said Sacco. “We decided to make a quick change with the lines there and put him up with Lindy and Marchy. I thought they responded well together. It was good to see him play the way he did. He was on pucks, he was strong, he was really good down low below the goal line, winning puck battles. And that’s Charlie’s game, puck possession and hanging on to pucks.”

Everyone to a man agreed that the way they started the game was unacceptable. They did not have a good first period and then left the slot open for two too-easy goals early in the second.

But they found a way to erase it all.

“Confidence and belief is dangerous,” said Marchand after the game. “If you have that, you can make it happen. We’ve done it a few times recently where we pushed in the third. We’re starting to have that belief again that we can come back in that situation. We need to be better at not getting in this position and having the breakdowns we did in the second period. But at the end of the day the points are huge for us right now and we came up big in the third.”

It may not help them against the explosive Oilers. But it’s much more fun building off wins than trying to pick yourself back up after losses.